Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida: The Making of the Broadway Musical

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful way to capture AIDA
Review: I saw Aida on Broadway and was impressed by the music, the acting, the scenery, and the dancing. When I discovered this book, I found a way to relive the moment. I enjoyed looking through the photos of this book and showing them to people who have not yet seen the play on Broadway. I also enjoyed reading all the behind the scenes comments by the actors and actresses. All in all, I have found this book a great way to cherish one of the greatest musicals on Broadway.

Rating:
Summary: This is a heckuva book!
Review: This is an excellent book and very informative. It tells you about all of the changes that the show went through. It has wonderful pictures. They're all in color and they bring back memories of the show. I had had the good fortune of seeing the show with the entire original cast still intact. There were no understudies that day and I was so happy. I'm still trying to remember where that scrim in Fortune Favors the Brave came from. My only complaint is that they didn't tell the name of the man who played Radames before Adam Pascal took over in Chicago. Buy this book. You will thank me.

Rating:
Summary: Overall a fine book but lacking at times
Review: You'll find this oversized book ripe with details, from conception to Broadway debut, and filled with pages of colorful photos that illuminate the production. Journalist and author Michael Lassell traces the show's history with interviews from those intimately involved, from writer and composer Elton John and Tim Rice to stars Adam Pascal and Heather Headley to costume designers and choreographers. His unrivaled access allows us to visit every aspect of the production.

The book is divided into four chapters: story, composition, production, and performance. The first section describes the timeless tragedy and romance of Aida and of its rebirth from acclaimed opera to modern day rock musical. John and Rice's hammering out the numbers is described in the second part, and we begin to see the show's evolution from its originally titled "Elaborate Lives" Atlanta production. Set design, art direction, scenery, and costuming are detailed in the third chapter, and the last focuses on performance details.

The most ardent fan will always find such books lacking, but in fairness it gives the common theatre-goer a good sense of the energy required to stage a Broadway production. One of the best features is the photos, both plentiful and saturated with color. I especially liked the visual contrasts between various stages of the show, such as early costume sketches compared with the final outfits. The breadth of interviews also conveys the passion of an extraordinary "Aida" team.

A couple of things could have been improved upon. While I enjoyed the pictures, there was a redundancy to some. Two full page spreads of "Dance of the Robe," for example, one to illustrate the lighting and a second to show the choreography, proved unnecessary. Space dedicated to "sequence shots," a cluster of essentially the same candid photo, could also have been better utilized with more production stills or, better yet, meatier text. At the core of the show is the story, its historical and contemporary implications, and this book doesn't drive into the heart of the characters quite forcefully enough. Lassell only dedicates several pages at the end to the actors' interpretations of their characters.